Chapter 4 - Why Red Hollow Wanted Her Gone
Elias counted five lanterns.
Five riders.
Maybe six.
He moved quickly.
“Inside.”
Clara hesitated.
“Now.”
Something in his voice ended the argument.
She went.
Elias led his horses behind the cabin and opened the lower gate into the ravine.
Then he returned inside.
“Get the girls.”
Clara gathered Rose and Ruth.
“Where are we going?”
“Nowhere.”
She stared at him.
“They’re coming here.”
“I know.”
“And you intend to wait?”
“Yes.”
“That’s insane.”
“Probably.”
Elias placed his rifle near the wall.
Clara noticed.
“You’re going to fight them?”
“Hopefully not.”
“Hopefully?”
“I’m trying optimism.”
“This is optimism?”
“For me.”
Despite everything, Clara almost smiled.
The first knock came five minutes later.
Three heavy blows.
Elias opened the door.
Sheriff Amos Pike stood outside.
He was a wide man with a gray mustache and expensive gloves paid for by somebody else.
Four riders waited behind him.
“Vance.”
“Pike.”
“You always did choose unpleasant country.”
“You always did bring unpleasant company.”
Pike glanced past him.
“We’re searching for a woman.”
“No women here.”
A baby cried.
Pike smiled.
“That mountain air has a strange voice.”
Elias did not move.
Pike’s expression changed.
“You’re obstructing lawful business.”
“Show me the warrant.”
Pike blinked.
“What?”
“Warrant.”
“This isn’t Boston.”
“No. But paper still works up here.”
Pike stepped closer.
“Clara Hale is wanted for theft.”
“Interesting.”
“She stole property belonging to Gideon Rusk.”
“What property?”
“Documents.”
Elias leaned against the doorframe.
“Your story changed quickly.”
“What do you mean?”
“Town says she was punished for helping her husband steal money.”
Pike’s eyes narrowed.
Elias had guessed correctly.
“Who told you that?”
“No one.”
Silence.
Pike realized the mistake.
Elias continued.
“So which is it?”
The men behind the sheriff shifted.
Pike lowered his voice.
“Hand her over.”
“No.”
“Careful.”
“I am.”
“You’re one man.”
Elias looked beyond him.
“I count five.”
“Then you understand.”
“I understand you needed four men to knock on my door.”
One deputy looked uncomfortable.
Good.
Elias wanted uncertainty.
Pike glanced toward the cabin.
“Clara!”
She appeared behind Elias.
Rose in one arm.
Ruth in the other.
For half a second, Pike looked surprised to see them alive.
Clara saw it.
“So you expected the cold to finish your work.”
Pike’s face hardened.
“You committed a crime.”
“What crime?”
“You know.”
“Say it.”
Pike remained silent.
Clara stepped closer.
“Say what I stole.”
“You’re coming back.”
“No.”
“You don’t decide.”
Elias moved half a step.
“Yes,” he said quietly. “She does.”
Pike’s hand drifted toward his coat.
Elias’s eyes followed.
Nobody moved.
Then one of the deputies spoke.
“Sheriff.”
Pike looked back.
The deputy nodded toward the sky.
Snow had begun falling heavily.
Storm clouds gathered over the ridge.
Pike cursed.
“You can’t hide forever.”
Elias looked at Clara.
Then back at him.
“She isn’t hiding.”
Pike mounted his horse.
Before leaving, he said, “Rusk will hear about this.”
Elias almost laughed.
“I assumed he sent you.”
Pike’s face confirmed it.
Then the riders disappeared down the trail.
Clara closed the door.
Her hands shook.
Elias noticed.
“You stood up to him.”
“He was on my property.”
“That makes a difference?”
“Yes.”
“Why?”
Elias considered.
“Because there are very few things in the world I still care enough to defend.”
Clara looked toward the twins.
“And now?”
Elias did not answer.
But he didn’t need to.
That night the storm buried Pike’s tracks.
Clara sat near the hearth.
“Why are you helping me?”
Elias stared into the fire.
“I told you.”
“No. You told Pike.”
“Same answer.”
“I don’t believe you.”
He looked at her.
“You don’t know me.”
“Exactly.”
Elias rubbed his beard.
Clara waited.
Finally he spoke.
“My younger sister lived in Red Hollow.”
Clara’s expression changed.
“Lived?”
“Anne.”
He hadn’t said the name aloud in years.
“She married a man who worked Gideon’s northern timber crew.”
“What happened?”
“Her husband died in a mill accident. Gideon refused compensation. Said negligence.”
Elias’s voice stayed flat.
“Anne had no income. Lost the house. Got sick that winter.”
Clara understood before he finished.
“She died?”
“Yes.”
“I’m sorry.”
Elias nodded once.
“I went to Rusk.”
“What did he say?”
Elias looked into the fire.
“He told me some people were born to lose.”
Clara closed her eyes.
For a moment neither spoke.
Then she whispered, “Thomas said Gideon talked that way.”
“I left Red Hollow after Anne died.”
“And came here.”
“Yes.”
“You’ve been alone ever since?”
“Mostly.”
Clara studied him.
“No wife?”
Elias looked at her.
“That's a dangerous question.”
“Why?”
“Because I might answer.”
She waited.
“I was engaged once.”
“What happened?”
“She decided she preferred civilization.”
Clara smiled faintly.
“Can’t imagine why.”
Elias almost smiled too.
Then Ruth cried.
Clara reached for her.
Elias reached at the same time.
Their hands touched.
Both froze.
Neither pulled away immediately.
Then Clara looked down.
Something had fallen from Ruth’s blanket.
A tiny brass key.
Elias picked it up.
Clara stared.
“That wasn’t there before.”
“It was sewn inside?”
She examined the hem.
A stitch had opened.
Thomas had hidden more than a message.
Elias turned the key in his fingers.
Stamped into the metal was a number.
317.
Clara whispered, “What does that open?”
Elias knew.
His expression changed.
“What?”
she asked.
“Red Hollow freight station.”
Clara’s face drained.
“Lockboxes.”
“Yes.”
“And box 317?”
Elias closed his fist around the key.
May you like
“Whatever Thomas died protecting.”
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